Fear reboot snags lead

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Looks like casting for Universal's upcoming "reimagining" of James Foley's 1996 romantic horror-thriller FEAR starring Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, and Alyssa Milano is heating up. Today we have word that the female lead has been cast in the form of THE HATE U GIVE star Amandla Stenberg (see above, THE DARKEST MINDS, THE HUNGER GAMES).

Now, I haven't seen the movie in at least a solid decade if not more, but I remember digging it as a teen. Especially the doggy door part if you know what I mean. Classic home invasion shite right there. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind F. Gary Gray's STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, Jonathan Herman is writing the updated script for the flick. The original film followed this synopsis:

When 16-year-old Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) meets 23-year-old David McCall (Mark Wahlberg) at a Seattle nightclub, she falls in love. David is exciting and charming, and despite the wide age gap, he wins over Nicole's family — except for her workaholic father, Steven (William Petersen), who's suspicious of David from the start. His concerns are realized when David turns out to be a violent sociopath who sees Nicole as his possession, and her family home a fortress to be invaded.

The original film's executive producer, Brian Grazer, described it as "Fatal Attraction for teens" and Wahlberg was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain. While the first film has become a cult classic of sorts since it's release, the movie holds a 42% rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critic Consensus which reads: "Fear has an appealing young cast, but their efforts aren't enough to consistently distract from an increasingly overblown – and illogical – teen stalker story." Grazer, who as mentioned above, produced the original film, again produces for Imagine Entertainment alongside Imagine’s Karen Lunder. EVP Production Jon Mone will oversee production for Universal.